Thursday, December 27, 2012

1)It is
most definitely possible to get malaria while you are on prophylaxis. We
already knew this, but we now have experiential knowledge. Prophylaxis is not
the same thing as a vaccine, and unfortunately, there is no vaccine for malaria
yet. What prophylaxis does is puts a small amount of treatment medicine into
your body, so that if you are bitten by a mosquito which is carrying malaria,
your body will be better able to fight it. Prophylaxis will also prevent you
from getting cerebral malaria, which if untreated, can kill a person within an
hour of his or her first symptoms. If your immune system is strong and it is
one of the less severe forms of the parasite, the prophylaxis may keep you from
having symptoms. However, it will not keep you from getting the malaria
parasite.
We have been very conscientious about
sleeping under a mosquito net and taking our prophylaxis, but we are now going
to redouble our efforts to wear repellant every night, not just when we see
mosquitoes about, and regularly spray our rooms. Even then, there are no
guarantees, especially when traveling and staying in guest houses. For example,
Eric is pretty sure a mosquito bit him a few weeks ago as he was getting out of
the shower. That’s why it is also equally important to have access to treatment
and to treat at the first sign of symptoms. Now that I know what malaria feels
like in my body—each person is different—I will be better able to treat it at
the first sign of malaria.2)The
Tanzanians in our community genuinely care about us and will go out of their
way to show it. As soon as Eric told Rev. Nzelu, his school’s principal,
that I was sick, the Tanzanian community has truly supported us. Rev. Nzelu was
out-of-town at the time, so he sent Gasper, the school’s driver, and Mr.
Shango, the school’s accountant, to take us to Shinyanga for me to be tested
for malaria. They spent their Sunday morning with us traveling around trying to
find a clinic that was open, where I could be tested.
When I was diagnosed, the restaurant began
packaging meals for Eric so that he could just pick them up and be with me. The
daytime manager of the guest house also made sure we were able to change the
sheets more regularly.
Philemon, one of Eric’s coworkers, has
called or visited daily since learning of my sickness, and spent one evening
helping Eric find juice and other vitamin rich foods for me. When I was
admitted to the hospital, Philemon and Mr. Shango stayed and waited with Eric
the entire morning and visited again in the afternoon.
Rev. Nzelu has been a vigilant watchman of
my care. He has visited at least once a day and called many more times. We were
invited to spend Christmas with him and his family, but since we couldn’t make
it, he himself brought us two meals on Christmas day.
Several other members of the church and
school board have also visited, including the bishop-elect for the Shinyanga
Diocese, Rev. Makala. He came to the hospital with a “Get-Well Soon” card and
prayed over me. He has studied in the U.S. before and knows what it is like to
be away from family, so his prayer not only included prayers for bodily
healing, but strength in times of homesickness.
If anything, this illness has rooted us
more deeply into the community. We can truly say we have Tanzanian friends and look
forward to being able to support them in similar ways.3)There are
other Wazungu (white people) living in Mwadui. We always suspected we weren’t
the only ex-patriots living here, but we hadn’t met any until the day before I
fell ill. We just happened to run into Amanda and Andre at a store as we were
shopping for supplies for Christmas cookies—which have not yet been made, for obvious
reasons. Andre works as an accountant for the Williamson Diamond Mine, and he
and his wife are both Afrikaans from South Africa. The Sunday I was diagnosed
with malaria, they texted us to tell us that they were making a trip into
Mwanza. They wanted to know if they could pick anything up for us. Eric told
them about my malaria and asked them to pick up some chicken broth.
The next thing we knew, there was a knock
on the door from another Afrikaans woman, named Tilla. Apparently Amanda had
told her about our situation, and she was very concerned, because she had almost
lost her husband to malaria once before. She and her husband have lived here in
Mwadui for 7 years. With grandmotherly affection, she gifted me with soda,
chicken soup, medicine to keep the fever down, and more bug repellant. She
urged us to call her if things got worse, because she knows the doctor at the
hospital, and she’s been through this before.
Amanda and Andre themselves visited Sunday
evening, bringing with them many groceries for us. They returned again on
Christmas with some festive foods, telling us to let them know if there was
anything else they could do to help.
When it became apparent that I would need
to spend some time in the hospital on IV antibiotics and fluids, Eric let Tilla
know via text message. When we arrived at the hospital and discovered that it was
divided into men’s and women’s wards, i.e. Eric was only allowed in the ward with
me at certain times of the day, I could not hold back the tears. Thus, when two
familiar female faces showed up in the ward-- Amanda and Tilla’s—I was
incredibly grateful. It meant a lot to have someone holding my hand when the
nurses had to stick me for the 5th time, trying to find a vein that
was big enough for an IV. When I was released from the hospital, Tilla arranged
for us to stay at the guest house on the mining compound for a few nights, so
we would be close and she could look after us. It turns out that all of the
South African wazungu live in a couple of mining compounds. In the past few
days, we have seen another whole side of town.
We are now realizing that we are in a
unique position in Mwadui, because we are working for and with the Tanzanian
community, but now also have friends who work for the South African mining
company itself. We are not yet sure how, but we are getting the sense that this
may be part of God’s plan for strengthening partnerships between the company
and the Tanzanians that live and work in Mwadui.4)I share
my mother’s allergy to Codeine. This discovery came about completely by
accident. When my fever was rising, Tilla offered us an anti-inflammatory that
was a combination of acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and codeine. Thankfully, I
remembered my mother’s medical history, so when my face started to feel numb and
swollen and I broke out in hives, we quickly recognized that I must have the
same allergy. With haste and prayer, we made our way back to the hospital.
After a shot and an oral antihistamine, I was back to normal. Overall, we are
very thankful that we found this out through a small dose of codeine. Now I can
add this to my medical charts, and be careful to avoid drugs with codeine for
the rest of my life.5)We are
supported by a loving, praying community world-wide. During difficult times
like this last week, we especially value the support of our international
community, our “cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1). During my lowest point—when
I thought I had been improving on Christmas Day only to discover it was a cruel malaria
trick, when I had gotten only one hour of sleep the whole night, when I could
not physically drink enough to replace what I was losing, when I was waiting to
hear back about whether the doctor was at the hospital yet—in that moment, Eric
read aloud the comments posted on Facebook and names of people we knew were
praying. I think we have prayed more this Christmas than any previous
Christmas, and knowing that our prayers were joined by people all over the
world—the very thought of it still brings me to tears. All we can say is “Thank
you.”
6)God can
bring good out of evil. In some sense, malaria robbed us of our first
Christmas in Tanzania. We will have to wait another whole year to experience
how Tanzanians celebrate the birth of our Savior. And yet, this list is
evidence of the fact that God can and does bring good out of evil. We will
never say that we are glad I got malaria, because we wouldn’t wish this on our
worst enemy, but we can now look back and see how God has carried us through
this time and enriched our lives through it. Bwana Yesu asifiwe (The Lord Jesus
be praised).

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Over the last two months, our lives have been fairly
consumed by learning Kiswahili, and we have learned a lot! However, we recently
realized that our brains were becoming oversaturated, and it was becoming more
and more difficult to pick up concepts in class. We had also noticed an overall
weariness in ourselves. Therefore, we decided to take a Fall BreakJ Last week we made arrangements
to travel by bus to Udzungwa National Park with four other students for the
weekend.

Friday came, and everyone was packed up and ready to leave,
everyone that is, except Eric’s stomach. He woke up with some intestinal issues,
so we delayed our trip slightly to give some time for the meds to kick in.
Thankfully after an hour, he was feeling significantly better, so we called a
taxi and headed to the bus station.

The bus station in Morogoro is an amazingly frenzied place,
with people selling goods in every direction. As soon as we arrived (around
9am), we were bombarded by eager Tanzanians attempting to get us to come onto
their bus or trying to sell us their goods. Thankfully, Stacey has lived in
Tanzania on and off for the last six years, so she is relatively fluent in
Kiswahili. Our taxi driver told her which bus was the safest and most
comfortable. We therefore bought our tickets and boarded the aforementioned bus.
We had our pick of seats since we were the first ones on the bus. What we didn’t
factor into our plans was that buses don’t leave until they are full. So we
waited. And waited. For 3.5 hours, we sat on the bus playing card games, evading
the zealous vendors who decided to join us on board, eating snacks, reading,
and waiting. People gradually filed onto the bus.

We generally didn’t take much notice when people entered the
bus, but one particular woman demanded our attention. When she got on, she
ardently declared that she loved us and tried to kiss Eric (on the lips).
Luckily, he managed to thwart her advances. Then, after she had passed our seat,
she reached back and struck me (Linda) on the head. Hard. Fortunately, it was
nothing that a cool water bottle compress and ibuprofen couldn’t fix. “She’s
crazy” was the explanation we received from fellow passengers. As the bus was preparing
to leave, a commotion arose from the back. The woman screamed, and shortly
thereafter a man returned to the front of the bus with a bleeding ear. We never
got the full story, but we saw her travelling companions strap her to the seat.
We guess that they must have sedated her, because we heard no more from her for
the rest of the trip. While restraining her was likely necessary, it broke our
hearts. The incident was a poignant reminder that mental health care is almost
nonexistent in Tanzania.

Finally, around 12:30pm, we departed. The bus was vastly more
comfortable than a daladala, meaning every person received an actual seat. Each
row contained two seats on the left side and three on the right. The trip began
on a paved road, but the last hour was completely a dirt obstacle course. There
were no bathroom breaks during the trip, though the bus did stop periodically
to let passengers on or off. Around 4pm, the bus dropped us off at the Udzungwa
Mountain View Hotel.

The rooms at the hotel weren’t any nicer than our rooms at
language school, but they were clean and cozy and we got a great deal on them.
Stacey had called ahead and explained that we are in the process of getting our
resident permits, so we got a hefty discount. The price cut may also have been
related to the fact that we were the only guests at the hotel that weekend.

After checking in, we ordered our dinners and we walked down
to the park entrance. There we made arrangements to have a guide for our hike
the next morning. As soon as we got back, a heavy rain began and the
electricity went out. Thanks to the power outage, we got a candlelight dinnerJ The food was
delicious, a three course meal including a soup and bread, main entrée, and
crepe with honey for dessert. We talked for a while after dinner, but headed to
bed early since we were all exhausted.

The next morning, we ate a tasty breakfast, and then made it
to Udzungwa by 9 am. Of course, African time is different than ours, so it took
a little while for our guide to arrive. Since we wanted to do the longer
circuit, we all piled into a pick-up truck, and they drove us to another
entrance. It’s been a long time since we have ridden in the back of a pick-up,
and we enjoyed the fresh air. We fully commenced our hike around 10am. Our
guide, Huruma, would periodically stop and tell us stories about the different trees
and flora. Over the course of the next 6.5 hours, we saw three magnificently stunning
waterfalls. We even changed into our swimsuits and took a swim in the pooling base
of one of the falls. After our swim, we stopped at a campsite and ate our lunch,
consisting of the bread, peanut-butter and jelly we had brought with us.
Reenergized by the edible fuel, we began the trek back down the mountain.

Around 4pm, we arrived at another park exit—hot, sweaty, and
elated. The pick-up driver picked us up and transferred us back to our hotel.
After a shower and a nap, we consumed another sumptuous feast. This time there
was no rain, so we dined outside in the cooling breeze. The hotel also arranged
for a bus booking officer to stop by so we could buy tickets for our trip the
next day.

After dinner, the six of us crowded into one of the rooms
and watched “Amazing Grace” on Eric’s laptop. “Amazing Grace” is an inspiring
movie about the abolition of slavery in England. Somehow it seemed even more moving
watching it in Africa, knowing that the baobab tree at our school was once a
place for slaves to rest on their way to be sold, and to hide in to escape
bondage (we have been told the inside is hallow).

The following morning we arose—stiff and sore, but still in
agreement that the hike was worth it. After breakfast, we gathered our
belongings and waited for the bus. Remarkably, it collected us from the front
of our hotel close to the predicted time. We first endured the awkward moment
when the bus official made some people change seats, since he had already
presold us our specific seats. We also soon became aware of the fact that this
bus was not nearly as spacious as the previous bus. As we sat, we discovered that
the seats were so close that my (Linda’s) knees didn’t fit straight in front of
me, to say nothing of Eric’s.

The trip moved along at a solid pace until the police
stopped our bus and asked everyone to vacate so they could search for any
illegal items. Several of us decided to take this opportunity to use the
bathroom facilities, knowing there would likely not be another opportunity.
Through this decision, we learned that these squat toilets, which are the
typical Tanzanian public facilities, were not free. Luckily, we had brought
both money and toilet paper. While we
were eager to get home, the stop did give us the opportunity to stretch our
legs.

Finally, around 1pm, we arrived at the bus station in
Morogoro. Since lunch was already over at school, we grabbed a taxi and headed
to a local restaurant where we knew there was ice cream to combat the afternoon
heat. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed. Bummer. Thus, we paid the extra
money to go to another restaurant where ice cream could also be found. A
chicken stir fry, pizza and two butterscotch milkshakes later, we contentedly
took a taxi back to school. We then unpacked, had a small dinner, showered,
listened some worship music and a podcast sermon, and promptly fell into bed. And
thus ended our improvised Fall Break. While we were probably physically more
tired the next day than when we had left, we now feel more prepared mentally
and emotionally to face the last two weeks of school:-)

Saturday, October 13, 2012

About a month ago, we received an invitation from one the
staff members at school, Mama Lucia. Her name is actually Generous, but here in
Tanzania parents often go by the name of their first born child (i.e. Eric’s
parents would be called “Mama Eric” and “Baba Eric.” My parents would be called
“Mama Linda” and “Baba Linda”). She invited us to attend the Thanksgiving
service at the Lutheran Church in Bigwa. Bigwa is about a 30 minute walk from
our school.

Apparently every Lutheran church (and possibly other
denominations as well) picks a Sunday, usually in October, to be their
Thanksgiving Sunday. On this day, people will bring a special offering from
their “harvest” to be used for the work of the church. It is a reminder that “A
man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from above” (John
3:27). In the case of the Lutheran
Church in Bigwa, they have been gradually building their church structure since
2001. They currently have 3 walls and a roof. Thus, the special offering on
Thanksgiving will go towards adding the next wall. For churches that are
already fully built, the money collected might go towards other ministries and
projects.

All of the Christian language students on campus left with
one of our teachers at 9am for the walk to Bigwa. By the time we got there, we
were all pretty sweaty, so it was nice to have a half hour to chat and cool off
before the service began at 10ish. This time also gave us a chance to collect
our Swahili thoughts, since we were pretty sure we would be asked to introduce
ourselves. We were, and it went significantly better than the previous week :-)
Several other ex-pats/former language students also attended.

At first, the service followed the traditional Lutheran
liturgy in Swahili (call to worship, confession, absolution, readings, sermon,
etc.) We did our best to follow along in the hymnals that we had borrowed from
campus. We had previously asked if there was a place where we could buy hymnals,
but we were told that only 500,000 of the new Kiswahili hymnals were printed.
With 5.6 million Lutherans in Tanzania, they are few and far between! We were
thankful to at least be able to borrow some.

Throughout the service, the choir sang various songs. We
absolutely love the music in Tanzania! The harmonies are so beautiful.

At the end of the traditional service (about 2 hours later),
they began the time of gift giving. It began with someone bringing forward a
small cake. They explained that they would cut the cake, and then people would “sponsor”
bites for each other. Each bite was 10,000 shillings (about $6). Talk about
your fundraising mark up! However, it seemed like the event was more about the
relationships than the actual cake—a chance to honor each other. Mama Luciawanted to give a bite to all the ex-pats she
had invited, but could not afford it. Therefore, she brought up one man and one
woman from among us to be our representatives. I (Linda) asked Stephanie how
our bite tasted, and she said it was pretty good:-) We and the other ex-pats
also decided we should sponsor some folks, so we picked children from the
congregation. They were so sweet and shy when we brought them forward! By the
end of the cake, the congregation had raised 840,000 shillings (about $525),
more than twice what they were expecting from the cake!

Then people took turns giving monetary gifts. Each person
came up and announced to the congregation what they were contributing and
everyone clapped in thanksgiving (a little different than passing around the
offering plate). All the ex-pats decided to pool our money and announced our
contribution as a group.

Finally, the auction began. Because not everyone had cash
resources, people brought what they had: bananas, chickens, grains, clothe,
pigs, etc. One of the chickens had been sitting by us for a good share of the
service:-) Pastor Tobias bought us a bunch of bananas since by this point it
was 2pm, and we were all extremely hungry. My fibromyalgia pain was
particularly high on Sunday (we later discovered it was because of impending
rain), so by 2:30pm I had a raging headache. Mama Lucia took the two of us and
Emily back to her house to rest before lunch. When the rest of the group (some
of the pastors, church leaders, and ex-pat missionaries) later joined us for
lunch at Mama Lucia’s house, we learned that the pastor had asked for us in the
service (“Where are the 3 missionaries from the U.S.?”). Apparently they had
wanted to offer a blessing for us. Oops!! We felt pretty badly about it, but having
these awkward moments is one part of cross-cultural exchange.

Around 4pm, we returned to our dorm, full of the delicious
foods that Mama Lucia and her family had prepared. We were exhausted, but full
of gratitude to be included in the events of the day and in the community!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Some things haven’t changed since
our last post, and some things have.
We are still eagerly plugging away at
learning Swahili, and it is still tough! We still regularly enjoy walks to
stretch our legs after sitting all day. We still enjoy the gorgeous views. We
still dread riding in a packed daladala to go into town. And we still have a
similar schedule to the one previously mentioned.

So what has changed?

Different
Sense of Community- When the German
students left, the number of boarders dramatically decreased. We genuinely miss
their energy and enthusiasm for life, as well as all the field trips we experienced
while they were here. Yet, we are also enjoying this new era in a smaller, more
intimate community. All the boarders now sit at the same large table during
meals. We spend weekend evenings playing games and watching movies together. We
will often sit and talk even after we have finished our meals or snacks. Two of
our favorite boarders are little Yasmin (age 3) and Yara (age 2). They remind
us of our nieces and nephew (miss you three!). Yasmin and Yara tend to seek us
out at meals. Yasmin is especially fond of Eric who lets her play with his iTouch
after he has finished eating. Last night she ran to him as soon as she saw him
heading towards the dining hall. It was precious!

Visits
to the Orphanage- Since the last post, we have also begun visiting the
local orphanage every Saturday. Our first trip was on Linda’s birthday, and in
one visit, we were hooked :-) Emily, one of our friends from the States, joins
us every week. We love playing ball with, wrestling with, cuddling and reading
to the kids.

Internet-
We finally got tired of paying by the hour for the school’s slow internet.
The final straw was when we couldn’t manage to download Skype to Linda’s
computer. We kept getting kicked off at the end of the hour, and we would have
to start all over again.Therefore, we
went to town and bought an Airtel USB internet stick. It uses a cell phone
signal to connect us to internet. It has been vastly better consistency and
speed-wise, at least on Linda’s computer. Eric’s computer still doesn’t like to
connect to the internet here, and we aren’t sure why. Even on Linda’s computer,
we still have moments when we are reminded we are in Africa (i.e. we want to
throw the computer out the window). Yet, we are thankful that we can now use
Skype to talk with family and friends (audio-only).

Kiswahili
Worship Services- We’ve attended a few more worship services in Kiswahili.
One was the graduation of the Form 4 students (seniors) at the Secondary School
on campus. We didn’t stay for the graduation, since the worship service itself was
already 2.5 hours long and numerous family members were waiting outside to get
in. While we didn’t understand most of what was going on, we LOVED the music
because each grade formed their own choir, the teachers formed a choir, and
there was a visiting choir. In addition, it seems like every time we sing we
are part of a choir, because the entire congregation breaks into harmony.

Last week, we were also invited to a
Thanksgiving service at another local Lutheran Church. That was quite the cultural
experience! I think I will save the details for a later post.

The
Weather- We are now hitting the end of dry season, and this has been an
especially dry time across Tanzania. What does this mean? We have seen a lot of
people carting water by bicycle. Our own water access has also been sporadic.
We still have access to clean drinking water thanks to the kitchen staff.
However, some days we don’t have warm water for showers, and some days we aren’t
able to use the showers at all (all that comes out of them is watery mud). On
those days, the staff provides us with buckets of water, so we can at least
take a bucket shower. Since some of Tanzania’s electricity comes from hydro-electric
power, the lack of water has also affected our electricity. So far we’ve always
had lights at night, but sometimes it’s not available during the day (i.e. we
can’t use the fan we bought during the heat of the afternoon.) We are praying for
good rains during the rainy season (starting the end of October), because we
know how much the farmers need it and we like warm showers :-)

So that’s the news from here! We
hope and pray you all are well, and always enjoy hearing from you.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Today I celebrated my 28th
birthday! Being in Tanzania has definitely made this a unique birthday. It was
a beautiful day, and I wanted to share some of my joys.

It was actually also the birthday of
the daughter of two of the other students. Little Yara turned two today:-) Her
dad had ordered a cake from town, so we all enjoyed cake at breakfast. Eric
bought me a quilted satchel and beautiful wall-hanging from the campus store. I
love them both! I also received a piece of dark chocolate from our friend Emily
and some Korean instant coffee from Amani.

Classes were classes, but at lunch
break the kitchen staff had prepared another cake specifically for me. It didn’t
have icing and was more like a sweet cornbread, but it was really delicious.
Everyone dug into their second cake of the day:-)

We discovered there is an orphanage
within walking distance, so after class, one of the teachers took us (Linda,
Eric and Emily) over there. After a very pleasant half hour walk, we arrived
and were almost knocked over by children literally jumping into our arms. We
spent the next 45 minutes wrestling, snuggling and laughing with children. At
one point Eric had three children treating him like a jungle gym. We also got
to hold some of the babies. It was so fun!

On our walk back for dinner, some
kids were looking up into a tree. When we looked up, we saw a family of little
monkeys jumping from tree to tree eating fruit! Another special birthday memory:-)

At dinner, they had my favorite
fruit (pineapple). After dinner, I got to make some international calls before
starting homework. And then after homework, I got to go online and see the
birthday wishes many of you left me. Thank you all so much! It was all around a
great birthday!

Saturday, September 22, 2012

We have been in Tanzania for two
weeks now and we are settling into a rhythm.Our
Weekday Schedule

6-6:30amWake up - Depending
on whether we need to study or shower

7amBreakfast - Usually it is a buffet of yogurt, bread with butter and
jam, uji which is a type of porridge, some kind of fruit, and sometimes eggs.

7:30amHead back to our room to take
our malaria prophylaxis and other meds and grab our books.

7:45amMorning Prayer with the other students and teachers. We will sing a
Swahili hymn and hear a scripture reading in English and Swahili. Then, someone
will offer prayer (usually in Swahili) and sometimes we all say the Lord’s
prayer in Swahili. After one final Swahili hymn, the day of classes begins.

8amClass - We meet in small groups based on when you arrived and how
long you are staying. Eric and I are together with our own teacher. The
teachers rotate every week so we have a new one each week. This helps us get
used to different styles and different ways people speak Swahili

10amTea Break - They offer tea, coffee, hot chocolate and some kind of
snack such as popcorn, banana chips, fried dough, etc. Usually by then our
heads our about to explode, so the break feels amazing.

2:30pmClass or Lecture - We will either continue working on our Swahili
or hear a lecture on a specific topic. So far we’ve heard lectures on “Tanzanian
Beliefs about the Spirit World,” “Malaria,” and “The History of Christianity in
Tanzania”

4pmTea Break

4:30pmFree Time - Usually we will go for a walk, go into Morogoro, or try
to get online. Our favorite walking destination has been a baobab tree that is
climbable. Trips to and from Morogoro require us to ride on a daladala (a 15
passenger vehicle that Tanzanians manage to fit 26 people into with a
combination of sitting and standing.)

6pm Dinner - Similar to lunch. Sometimes we will have noodles instead
of potatoes. Other options may include chicken, fish, goat m, hot dogs, or
occasionally pizza (though the toppings are a bit different- light on the
cheese because it is so pricey, cut up hot dog, onion and pinapple)

7pmFree Time - Usually this is when we do our homework and studying.

8:30 or 9pmInternet
- So far this has been the best time to get online, though it is still very slow.
About all we have time for in an hour is checking Facebook and all of our
emails. Twitter thus far has been impossible, but we are still working on it.
Right now we use the school’s wireless internet and pay by the hour.

9:30-10:30Get
Ready for Bed - Shower and possibly some for-fun reading or a MASH episode
(We brought the series.)

10:30-11pmBed
Time

Field
Trips and Extra Activities

The last two weeks the school has
had a big group of college-age German students (about 25 students), so there
have been a lot of extra activities. One evening we took a field trip into Morogoro so we could find our way around. Another
night we had an International Dinner where
everyone was asked to prepare a dish from their home country. We had dishes
from Germany, the U.S., India, the Congo, Korea, and Tanzania and it was all
delicious! One day we went for a 6-hour
hike in the Mountains of Morogoro. The views were incredible! One night
they brought in Traditional Tanzania
Dancers and Musicians. And then yesterday we went to Mikumi National Park and saw elephants, zebras, giraffes, warthogs,
hippos, impalas, etc. in their natural habitat. It was absolutely amazingly
unforgettable! For pictures of all these events, go to www.facebook.com/AfunketimeinTanzania.
You don’t need a Facebook account to see the pictures.

Weekends

On Sundays, we get up and go to the English worship service at 7am and
sometimes to the Swahili service at
8:30am. Otherwise the weekends are pretty low key and unstructured (with
the exception of meals. No sleeping in if you want breakfast). Almost all of
the German students left today, so it has been pretty quiet. There has been a
small short term mission group from Oklahoma staying here the last few days and
we have enjoyed their company.We have spent the day cleaning our
dorm, washing our underwear by hand (we can pay to have everything else washed,
but having someone other than family wash your underclothes is taboo), and
organizing life. Last week, I (Linda) successfully cut Eric’s hair for the
first time and it turned out really well! Power goes in and out. However, we
were able to get this post up, so obviously the power has come back on after
being off most of the day.So that’s a little taste of our life
right now. Thanks for your loving support and we learn to navigate this new
world!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

We
were just recently reflecting about how many things came together in God’s time
and not our own (including this blog).

Departure—We had hoped to leave in
September for 2011 rather than September of 2012. However, last year we had no
idea that Linda’s sister would be getting married in August of 2012. Going
overseas a year later than we had planned gave us the opportunity to
participate in all of the wedding celebration. Linda was able to attend the
Bridal Shower, Bachelorette weekend, Rehearsal, and Wedding as Karen’s Matron
of Honor. The “delayed” time also gave us a chance to see all of our
grandparents again right before we left (Eric’s during a family vacation in
Colorado and Linda’s at the wedding).

The Money— One of our big stressors
in our last month in the U.S. was trying to sell our car. We had one offer
through Craigslist that was over $2000 less than the value of the car, and we
struggled with the decision of whether or not to just accept the loss. During
our prayer time, we felt like God was telling us to wait and be patient. When
no more offers came in and we discovered that the previous buyer was no longer
interested, we began to wonder if we had waited too long. Then, less than a
week before our departure we heard from the sister-in-law of one of Eric’s high
school classmates. Three days before we left, she test drove it, and the day
before we left, she bought it for more than the previous offer! Because it
wasn’t an anonymous Craigslist sale, we didn’t have to worry about whether or
not the money was good. We would have preferred it if the sale had happened
sooner, but God answered our prayer in His time. Like manna in the desert,
sometimes the provision is no more and no less than needed.

The Healing— The Friday (5 days) before
we left Linda pulled a muscle in her back. “Not good timing God.” Being Labor
Day weekend, Linda’s doctor was unavailable and we weren’t sure who else to
call. We had so much to do in terms of errands and packing, not to mention
moving us and all of our stuff across the world. On Sunday, Linda’s pain level
was making her wonder whether they would even be able to make the trip that
week. She asked people to pray for some significant healing by Wednesday. That
day a friend mentioned that one of the members at our church is a chiropractor.
He was willing to come into the office on Labor Day and fit her in the next day
as well, all for free! With his help and God’s healing touch, Linda was
significantly improved by Wednesday and able to endure the LONG journey
overseas. This was yet another reminder that God provides.J It is not always when
we want it or how we expect it, but it happens. The question is, “Do we
recognize it?”

Sunday, September 9, 2012

We have arrived safely in Morogoro, Tanzania! Actually we
arrived safely on Friday, but this is the first day we have had access to
internetJ
Overall, our trip went very smoothly. Our flight to Dallas
on Tuesday was delayed by two hours, but we were able to relax with Linda’s
parents that night and run many errands on Wednesday before our evening flight.Dallas to London--
Our flight from Dallas to London actually felt relatively short (only 8 hours).
We sat next Blanca, a woman from Mexico who was heading for France for friend’s
wedding. On the far side of our row was Michael, who with his wife and three
children (sitting in front of us) was moving to Glascow, Scotland. He will be
getting his PHD in history there, writing about how Scottish Presbyterianism influenced
American Colonialism and the American Revolution. They were both wonderful companions during the flight
and made the journey seem shorter. Eric and I both got 3-4 hours of sleep that
night. In the “morning”, Michael shared with us that he had experienced some
insomnia during the “night”, so while he had walked the length of the plane, he had prayed for us and our work in
Tanzania. We continue to be amazed by the beautiful encouraging people God
puts in our lives!10 hrs in London—
One of Linda’s friends from her Social Work program now works in London so he
had given us detailed directions about how to get around in London (Thanks
Daniel!) When we arrived in London, we paid to have our carry-on luggage stored
and took the underground into Central London. Everything in London was far more
expensive than we expected, so we decided to go the cheapest route. We bought sandwiches at a local store and
had an outdoor picnic in Trafulgar
Square where a big screen was set up to show the Para-Olympics (side note: the U.S. is totally missing out by not
broadcasting the Para-Olympics. It’s truly a shame and we should all write
NBC. While we had lunch, we watched a former U.S. soldier who had lost his eyes
in Afghanistan which a gold medal in swimming. It was awesome!) We then spent
the rest of the afternoon touring the National
Gallery (free) and seeing the outside (the free part) of Buckingham Palace, Big
Ben, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, the Royal Guards, Parliament, etc. Walking
around helped us stay awake for most of the day, though we did take a brief nap
in one of the parks. Finally, we headed back to the airport.London to Dar Es
Salaam— The next flight felt much
longer even though it wasn’t that much longer (10 hrs). We were seated in a
two-person row on a half-empty plane, so we did have a little more space to
spread out. However, even though were both tired, Linda had a lot of trouble
sleeping thanks to her back. She caught up on movies instead.Dar Es Salaam to
Morogoro— Thankfully all our luggage
made it safely to Dar! J
In Dar Es Salaam we were picked up by
Abdallah, the same driver who drove us back in February. Instead of having
to catch a bus to Morogoro, he drove us and all our luggage himself. We both
slept some during the 3 hr trip, but
Linda’s back was ready for a bed by the end.Since arriving in
Morogoro— We have now moved into our dormitory.
All our meals are provided and have thus far been very tasty. On Friday, we
caught a lecture with the other
students on Tanzanian beliefs about the
spirit world. We also unpacked and went to bed right after dinner. We were beyond exhausted!
On Saturday, we went into town to get some cash and buy
a new SIM card for our phone (our one from February didn’t work). What we
thought would be a 1 hr trip turned into a 4 hr trip since we were in a car
full of people all getting supplies (a good example of “African time”). Saturday afternoon we rested, called our parents,
and started getting to know our classmates. There is one family from Zambia
and a girl from Korea who have been boarding here for weeks. The rest of the
boarders, like us, arrived this weekend. There is only one other American girl
and the rest (about 25 students) are from Germany. So the dormitories are full
of languages we don’t understandJ.
However, everyone’s English is also fairly good and we heard there are more
American students living in town who take classes during the day.
On Sunday, we
went to the English service at 7am
and then went to the Swahili service
at 8:30. We figured we should start becoming accustomed to the sound of
Swahili. Plus the choir at the Swahili service was spectacular. We even knew a
few songs from our Valpo days (Thank you
Dr. Brugh!). This afternoon we again rested (jet lag is brutal) and went on
a tour of the campus with the other
students. We also were able to finally access internet cards. We have to
buy them an hour at a time, and they only had 2 hours available tonight.
Hopefully we’ll get more tomorrow because the internet here is incredibly slow.
So there’s your extended update! I will try to keep the rest
of them shorter, but we’ve had a lot of time on our hands the last 2 days which
gave us a chance to document our journey in detail. Tomorrow we begin classes
so we’ll have less free time. Thanks for reading and for all of your prayers on
our behalf!!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Linda and I had the opportunity to present and give the message at a Chapel service at Lutheran High School North in St. Louis, where Eric had taught for 7 years. The message gives all of us something to think about, so we thought we would post it here.-----------------------------------------------------

(Eric) What are
you willing to sacrifice?

This
question has been on our minds and hearts a lot lately. As you know for many
years, I have felt called to work in Africa, but the time never felt right.
When I married Linda, who also had a passion for international ministry, we
strongly sensed that the time was now. We knew that it was going to take a lot
of sacrifice. Honestly, one of the hardest sacrifices I had to make was leaving
a place I loved and students I cared for (i.e. you). Yet, sometimes God calls
us to make these sacrifices.

(Linda) As we started down the process of finding a placement, we
soon had to sacrifice something else. Our timeline. We had hoped to leave by
the start of this school year, working in positions that would pay us. The
months wore on and nothing seemed to be coming together. Either a placement
would want Eric, but not have any position for me. Or they would have a spot
for me, but not a married couple. We finally realized the best way was to raise
our own salaries and go with a volunteer missionary organization. But this takes a LOT of time. We waited until
we had two options and after praying about it, we felt that we were called to
Jos, Nigeria. We knew there were safety risks there, but there were also a lot
of other missionaries there and a system in place to reduce the risk.

(Eric) In
December, we traveled to Nigeria, excited about the ministry we thought we
would be doing in Jos. When we got there, our story took another turn. The
Lutheran Church of Nigeria didn’t want us in Jos. They wanted us to work in
Obot Idim in Southeast Nigeria. This change would mean more sacrifices. There
were no other missionaries in that area, so we would lose all of that support.
The place also had a long history of kidnappings. People looking for money
would kidnap ex-patriots (i.e. non-Nigerians), government officials, or wealthy
Nigerians in order to hold them for ransom. Sometimes those who were kidnapped
did not survive. As we saw the needs at the school there and in the community, it
wasn’t a perfect fit for our skills, but we knew we could help. So the question
was before us “What are we willing to sacrifice?”

(Linda) Our story took yet another turn. While we were in Nigeria,
the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania contacted our organization asking
if we could come there. We dismissed the idea, because we were in Nigeria. It
was too late in the game to make any changes. We came back and talked with
family and friends and the head of Global Lutheran Outreach. He asked us if we
wanted to consider Tanzania, and we said the only way we would is if their
needs fit our skills exactly. We also realized that we felt more called to Obot
Idim than we felt to Jos. Yet, we still felt unsettled. Why were we unsettled?
We didn’t know. Then, we found out a little more about the jobs in Tanzania.
They seemed to fit us. What were we going to do? To consider Tanzania meant
more money and more time. And I struggled with this. Why did I feel more called
to Tanzania than to Nigeria. Was it because I was afraid? Was I really willing
to risk our lives? In my quiet time, I started to focus on stories where God
called people to sacrifice. One day I landed on the story of Abraham and Isaac.

(Eric) In the
story, Abraham was told by God early in his life that he would have descendants
more numerous than the stars. There was
one problem though. He had no
children. Until one day God performs a
miracle, allows his wife the age of your grandmother to give birth, and they
have one son, named Isaac. God knew
that Abraham was faithful to him, but for reasons Abraham did not know, God
tested him. God called Abraham to go to
a mountain. Then God called to him to
sacrifice his only son. Now, this means
for Abraham, that if God allows him to go through with this, he will possibly
not have any descendants. But Abraham
trusted in the promises of God. He took
Isaac on to a mountain to sacrifice him.
Abraham raised up the knife to kill Isaac. God saw that Abraham truly trusted in Him,
and provided a ram instead.

(Linda) As I read this story, a prayer came to me. “God, is Tanzania
the ram?” God didn’t provide the answer immediately. However, as the weeks went
by and we got more information and talked with more people, we realized that
while we were willing to sacrifice and potentially give our lives wherever we
went, God had provided a ram. When we went to Tanzania in February, we realized
the work they needed us to do fit EXACTLY with our passions, our interests and
our skills. So this is where we are headed.

(Eric) There is
still much sacrificing. It’s not over. And there will be many struggles. But we
know it’s going to be ok, because God made the ultimate sacrifice. He provided
the ultimate ram. When it looked like Isaac would be lost, God provided the
ram. When it looked like we would be lost, God provided his son. That knowledge
is worth sacrificing everything.

So we ask you, what is God calling you to sacrifice? Time?
Money? Popularity? Don’t worry, He’s not calling you to sacrifice school
;-) But this is a question that we all
must ask ourselves. And no matter the sacrifice, God promises that He will
always be with you. Forever and ever
Amen.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Well, we've moved into a new phase
of our journey. Since we returned from Tanzania in February, we've felt a new sense
of clarity about our decision. When we looked back at what we had been praying
for in a location, we realized God answered our prayer exactly. Here is what
was on our wish list to God when we started our search last July.

-
A place in Africa to fulfill Eric's
childhood dream (or perhaps a better word is "call") to work in
Africa

-
A place where we both can use our
skills meaningfully (preferably with a job description, accountability, and
team environment)

-
A place that struggles deeply with
issues such as poverty, malaria, HIV, lack of education, etc.

-
A place where we can learn and grow
and step out of the fast-paced, perfectionistic culture of the U.S.

-
A place that is consistently warm,
but not so hot at night that my sleep would be further disrupted (related to my
fibromyalgia diagnosis)

-
A place that has access to medical
care should we need it and/or should God bless us with a child (just to be
clear, no plans of that right now)

-
A place where we can feel safe to
walk around and visit our neighbors

-
A place where we feel supported by
the local church and can have meaningful friendships with people native to that
country

-
A place with at least one other
missionary family in our area who can guide and encourage us as new
missionaries

-
A place where at times we can step
away from our work and have new adventures (even missionaries need a vacation
sometimes)

-
A place where we can use English in
our work, though we are willing to learn a new language as well

-
A place where we have the ability to
step out of the urban environment and see God through the beauty of nature

-
A place where we could speak about
our faith and share the love of Christ

As the months of searching for a
place like this wore on, we started to lose hope and considered compromising.
We thought maybe we were being too picky and asking too much of God. The call
to Obot Idim, Nigeria fulfilled many of our desires, but we left Nigeria with
several concerns.

1)
The heat can be incredibly intense
there and we weren't sure how that would affect my fibromyalgia

2)
We would not have been able to visit
with our neighbors on our own due to safety concerns.

3) There were no other missionary families
in the area where we would be.

We were willing to go to Nigeria
despite our concerns, but then God surprised us by giving us exactly
what we asked for in Tanzania! We are amazed and truly grateful.

The only item on our wish list that
God did not grant was our wish for paid positions (i.e. a salary). Yet, as we
begin our journey of "Support Discovery" in earnest, we are starting
to realize why God may have said "no" to our previous request.

1)
The numbers are daunting and scary
for us. We need about $35,000 to pay for our one-time out-going costs (items
such as a vehicle with four-wheel drive, extra luggage costs, a refrigerator, a
stove, furniture, etc). Then we need about pledges for $60,000 a year for our
ongoing costs (rent, gas, electric, gasoline, medical insurance, legal fees,
etc). We know that we can't do this on our own, and that knowledge truly
humbles us. We need other people and we need God to move in a mighty way if we
are going to leave by September.

2)
If we had found a position that paid
us, then we would not have nearly as many people praying for us as we begin our
new lives. When I moved to Papua New Guinea years ago, I found such strength
and comfort in the fact that so many people were praying for me and supporting
me. There were many days in PNG where I took the knowledge that people were
praying for me and God was with me dried my tears and gave me hope. I see now
that had a lot fewer costs as a single missionary supported by a family of
missionaries in PNG than we will have as a married couple trying to set up a
household in Tanzania. However, greater cost means even more people are going
to be invested in our ministry. Even more people will be praying for us. The
thought brings tears to my eyes- happy tears.

In the past few weeks something happened that put an end to
any remaining doubts we had regarding if we should be going to Nigeria rather
than Tanzania. The LCMS decided the risk was just too great and pulled out their
missionaries. While we were in Dallas, TX in March, we were able to meet with
the Rasch family, a missionary family we grew very close to during our time
Nigeria. We still aren’t exactly sure why God had us go to Nigeria only to
change our plans right after the trip, but maybe it was for this reason: that
we can now be an encouragement to families who had only a few days to say
goodbye to a life and friends they have known for many, many years. Their lives
are forever changed by this experience. Our prayers are with all the
missionaries of Nigeria and the church at large. We pray for peace.

Linda, Eric, Michael and Julia Funke

In September of 2012, we followed God's call and moved to Tanzania. Eric teaches computers, math, and physics at Mwadui Lutheran Secondary School. Linda serves as school's guidance counselor and assists the local Lutheran diocese with development projects. In 2015, our son Michael joined our family. Then in 2017, our daughter Julia became part of our family. This blog provides space for our longer stories and reflections. If you would like to learn more about our ministry, please check out the following links: